The game of cricket appears heavily loaded in the favour of the batsmen but the World Cricket Committee has ruled against changing the law related to the size of the bat due to lack of consensus on the issue
London: The game of cricket appears heavily loaded in the favour of the batsmen but the World Cricket Committee has ruled against changing the law related to the size of the bat due to lack of consensus on the issue.
The WCC discussed the issue at its meeting and decided that the balance between bat and ball has not yet tipped so far in favour of the batsman so as to warrant a change to the Laws of Cricket.
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"With no consensus, the committee ruled that MCC should not look to limit the edges and depths of cricket bats within the Laws at this stage, but should continue to monitor this aspect of the game closely," a report on official MCC website stated.
At present the permissible length of the bat is 38 inches while the width is 4 and a half inches.
MCC had asked Imperial College London to study the size of cricket bats through the decades, with specific reference to the thickness of bat edges and depths.
The report stated that modern bats have bigger sweet spots, with much larger edges, and that the ball goes further when hit closer to the edge.
In addition, research carried out on One Day Internationals played since 1979 shows that the numbers of boundaries and especially of sixes being hit in each innings has increased dramatically in the intervening period.
The committee debated the pros and cons of such an increase in sixes, such as how boundaries were good for those watching the game both in the ground and on TV, as against the apparent prevalence of mis-hits now going against the bowler by clearing the boundary ropes.
The committee also discussed the importance for boundaries themselves to be pushed out as far as possible within health and safety regulations to further prevent bowlers from being disadvantaged.
The WCC committee believes that a full-time appointment will go a long way to improve effectiveness across the globe to reduce corruption.
The threat of corruption is constant in the game, particularly so in domestic televised cricket, and it is believed that approaches to players are still being attempted.
The ACSU needs to be able to ensure that individual boards work together to increase the collective database of information relating to these approaches. The appointment of a full-time leader will ensure that it is better positioned to communicate more effectively the work and successes of the unit.
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